fairy lights
English
Etymology
From the small battery-powered incandescent lights, manufactured by the Swan United Electric Light Company, that were worn by fairy characters in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera Iolanthe in its opening season in 1882.[1]
Noun
fairy lights pl (normally plural, singular fairy light)
- (Britain) Small electric lights on a strand which are used decoratively, especially on Christmas trees.
- 2010, Trisha Ashley, Twelve Days of Christmas, HarperCollins, →ISBN, unnumbered page:
- I managed to put quite a lot of small baubles on the top of the tree that way and helped drape the long string of fairy lights around it, […]
- For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:fairy lights.
- 2010, Trisha Ashley, Twelve Days of Christmas, HarperCollins, →ISBN, unnumbered page:
Synonyms
Translations
lights
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References
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